Kate

How to ruin a drama with the last few episodes - tutorial.

I am sorry (not really), but the last 3 episodes were tragically bad. They went at such a slow pace in the previous ones, it felt like they had to fast forward three seasons worth of content in the last 4 hours. And it made everything feel so cheap.

Maybe I expected too much? Maybe they just switched the pacing too rapidly closer to the end? Something just did not feel right at all. They started to kill every character left and right, many things that were set up as important had no lasting effects nor consequences and I became completely detached from it all.

I think my biggest issue is the fact… the drama felt weirdly empty. With the slower paced romance, they should have developed the surrounding plots more, but they did not. Nothing really felt like it was highlighted - neither the romance, nor politics, not the scheming. And I just feel empty after finishing it.

Nothing felt like much of a threat, because no one actually did much. The big secret palace maids organization? Did two things throughout the whole plot, barely shown. King Yeong Jo? Bipolar turned dementia - clearly loved San so he never felt like much of a threat either. Hwa Wan was just dumb. The drama pretended like there was some grand complex plot with political struggles and fractions, and then nothing.

I actually wish they made it more character driven. Deok Im’s internal conflict was extremely interesting, especially since no matter what choice she would make, it would hurt her. I wish this was developed to a greater extent. And this leads me to one question: what the fuck happened with the plot after King Yeong Jo died.

They literally fast forwarded all the most interesting aspects of the plot - the aftermath of Deok Im “giving in”. They kept giving me “x years later” and it just made me angry. So many emotional scenes were flat because they completely lacked the context. Do I care about the little prince dying? No. Why? Because I do not know this child at all, I did not see one scene of his existence and then he is dead. Whatever. Yeong Hui dying, while sad, was also so ridiculous - the girl really went with “sex is worth dying for”. And it could have worked, if they set it up. Everyone was just dying left and right, and I was just laughing. And then Deok Im died and my conclusion was “you must be fucking kidding me”. But that was not the end, because San also died, and so did I.

Everything that happened in the last 3 episodes should take place in at least 7. I am so confused about the pacing and writing for this show. What happened? Was it supposed to be a longer show and they had to cut it short after half of it already aired? I just do not understand the choices that were made.

All that said, there were still a lot of things I love. Hong Deok Ro was easily my favorite character. How brazen and misguided he was became one of the highlights for me. I also loved his scenes with Kang Tae Ho and the contrast of what they view the true loyalty was.

Then we have the friendship between Deok Im and the other court maids.

The dynamics between Queen Jung Sun Kim, Consort Dowager Hong and Princess Hwa Wan? Amazing. The power struggle, the scheming and plotting. I want the whole show focused on them.

I know a lot of people loved the acting here, but I was not convinced. I watched the main cast and I kept thinking about other more defining roles they played. I kept seeing them as the actors playing the roles, rather than the characters themselves. The acting was good, don’t get me wrong, but somehow I was never wowed. Probably the best scene from the whole drama was the confrontation between San and Deok Im after the Crown Prince died - the defeat and the answer were extremely well presented.

The Red Sleeve also presents amazing beauty - both in terms of visuals and the soundtrack. Starlight Heart is such an amazing song. I kept listening to it on repeat.

Overall, I was entertained, but left disappointed.

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Braincells left the room…

I honestly feel like whenever there was a choice between right and wrong writing wise, they took the lightspeed towards the latter.

I did not even hate the premise. Was it ridiculous? Yes. But it could have been fun if executed well. It was not though. Which is sad, because friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes.

We have Akk and Theo - cute best friends separated because of evil forces of emigration. They also are brainless amebas. The number of “I knew, but didn’t tell” and “I didn’t know, and didn’t ask” and “I was confused so I assumed” was ridiculous.

When the big reveal happened, that it was in fact Theo who acted as Enchanté, I already checked out of reality, but then they tried to explain his reasoning, and it just killed the 3 remaining brain cells I had. You made this whole ass ploy to get attention from Theo? That’s just psychotic. They could have just given him DID.

Akk was not better - not surprised with a mother like that. I still cannot believe that 20 minutes before the drama ended his mother LITERALLY told him Theo probably likes his friend from France more, and that this friend is better for Theo than her own son. Wild. And then the next day when Akk said he does not deserve Theo, she did not even try to deny it. Who needs enemies when you have a mother like that.

Then we have musketeers of fake romance and one “artist”. Natee changed his crushes more often than teenage girl, Wayo legit needs to go to rehab, because he has serious gambling issues, Phupha who was borderline stalking Theo and Saifa was who was so chill he literally barely existed.

Last two episodes? Fever dream. Conflicts coming out of nowhere, resolutions being even less logical. My boy Akk having lower self esteem than poor female leads from early 2000s kdramas curing his issues with one 20 seconds chat with a friend. Divorce, separation, emigration, break up, proposal… damn they truly threw everything at me hoping something will stick.

Till I see true improvements I’ll keep saying it - maybe during the workshops they should practice other scenes not just the romantic ones. Yes, all these BL boys aced the “I’m in love” and “I’m pinning” look, but the moment they need to deliver any normal everyday line, they fail… painfully.

One thing I did actually enjoy was the music.

Overall, fun for the wrong reasons.

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Felt like a short slice of life dating show.

I am sorry, but if you start this show to watch some thrilling drama filled dating show and everyone being into everyone - it’s on you and it’s your mistake, when the synopsis literally says “Centered around travel and friendships”. This is the “slice of life” version of dating shows.

It’s not really focused on romance, but it does encourage some connections when needed. It was for sure more about friendships and chilling while remembering the previous seasons. For some contestants it was about getting some closure. That said, we did get a few interesting potential future couples from it. The title is fitting though: it’s just a beginning. The show gives us the potential first step, and shows nothing else.

I liked it. Quite a lot. Since I already knew the cast, I could focus on their interactions. I liked a lot of scenes that were focused more on the friendships, rather than the flings. I got what I expected to get and what I wanted to get. Yes, I do wish the show would be a bit longer, but again - this is not really a dating show. It’s more like a special season - these are always shorter.

I also really liked how they invited couples from previous seasons to sit on the panel since they know these people better than any viewer can. Not to mention, it's great to see at least Exchange does not seem like a completely staged show with couples breaking up the moment it finishes airing, because there was nothing truly between them in the first place.

At the end of the day it’s a sweet, short, feel-good special season that is directed strictly to viewers of the previous ones. There are no big romances and dates. It’s just friends hanging out and some finding more connection with each other than others.

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While the first and second half of the movie did not exactly fit in themes, both had quite good ways to create suspense and scare the audience - be it with visuals or the story itself.

Personally I enjoyed the first half far more - the mystery of all the supernatural events, the small details in the background that you need to pay attention to. The directing truly made me focus on what was happening on screen, since I did not want to miss any one of the bizarre moments - all thanks to some small detailed images.

And then the story started to get explained and for me it lost a bit of its charm. The scares shifted from unexplained supernatural to human’s evil deeds - it made me more uncomfortable than scared. There is value in exploring such themes, but it was not something I was looking for in this specific title.

The acting was decent. Nothing too outstanding, but good enough not to get distracting. Koki did a good job with the duality of her performance.

Overall, kept my interest till the end, even if the second half was slightly disappointing.

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Who comes up with these ideas?

This started so normal if we compare it to how it ended. I was in tears from crying during the last 20 minutes. Undoubtedly they had a lot of creative freedom while writing and filming this movie.

It has everything - decent CGI, awful CGI, small snakes, big snakes, friendship, romance, morality lessons, social commentary - all in the amazing trash quality.

I did laugh because of a few stupid jokes that were perfectly timed and well-delivered. I’m just glad there were exactly zero seconds where they tried to be serious about the plot. The acting was surprisingly fine - ain’t no high production quality mainstream title, but I was expecting something far worse.

Whatever comes to your mind after seeing the poster and the title is exactly what you will get.

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Why was it so wholesome?

And why did I enjoy it so much! Give me a gory slice of life with amazing friendship and sweet romance. How does this combination make sense? No idea, but it was fun.

This movie is not scary, this movie is entertaining, heartwarming and silly. Yes, the deaths are gruesome, but the stakes are non-existent. This is probably the most chill horror I have ever seen - no worries, no true tension, just pure enjoyment.

The plot could be separated into distinguishable sections depending on the characters; knowledge of what is happening around them and the growing friendship. With that, it never felt boring, and surprisingly not repetitive at all. We’ve got a cute slice of life during the day, and nightmare in the night - how did it click so well? No idea, but I loved that format.

Production value was fine. I’m glad we only saw the Red Person in the dark and shadows, because giving us a good view of it would ruin the fun - the design was just too silly, looking like something from Five Nights at Freddy's.

Overall, initial confusion about the tone of the movie turned into a tiny excitement and overall a pleasant experience, which is a rare thing to say about a horror movie.

Ps. Don’t even watch the after credits scene - it’s dumb. They thought they got the viewers with a twist, but it makes literally no sense.

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Two worlds that maybe should not collide.

Opening with rather dark themes got me excited for some teen dark investigation thriller, just to switch to fluffy slice of life in remaining episodes - it did not click well for me.

The story of our (technically) main duo barely existed except for the first and last episode. For the four episodes we followed stories of their classmates and I could not stop myself from thinking how insignificant they are compared to what was introduced in episode 1.

Here’s the thing - the stories were nice. Various situations present many issues teens might have to deal with as they mature. These were good takes and I did enjoy watching them, but my mind just kept coming back to Sappukei - her story became a distraction for me.

All that said, the drama has an amazing energy and vibe (don’t ask me to explain what it means, I can’t). Even though some of the presented issues seem like small problems, when you think about them a little bit more, they can be easily applied to a larger scale and become relatable no matter your age, experiences and surroundings.

The acting was good. Yamada Anna did a phenomenal job! She aced the role of someone being strongly emotionally affected, but trying to keep it all together and push forward, hiding how hurt, sad, scared, but also angry they truly are.

Overall, a nice show that does not quite well blend the stories. Different plots and themes did not fit together and created a bit of disconnect.

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Great buildup with a bit too much overexplaining.

How much you will feel the thrills and how much you will enjoy this movie depends on how fast you will guess the plot. The later you figure out the puzzle pieces, the better. For me, it was around an hour into the story, and after I understood what’s going on, it was a bit too predictable.

Still, the movie was for sure well crafted. Perfect pacing, with well written characters and outstanding performance from the cast. A bit of red herring and vague storytelling that helped create the suspense. Even after you figure out what’s coming, it’s still enjoyable. You start to pay more attention to details, dialogues and interactions between characters to see if they all support your theory.

It’s a psychological thriller that truly masterfully builds the layers of the plot and characters’ state. It’s a bit heavy on the explanation at the end, going the “tell not show” and not “show don’t tell” way. I believe the audience is smart enough to make sense of the clues and hints they have seen without the director literally showing what happened and why.

The best aspect of Anchor? Performances. I’m a massive fan of Shin Ha Kyun, and he did not disappoint in this project either. He delivers the lines and expressions with such an ease, you truly believe the character is a real person. Chun Woo Hee did most of the heavy lifting, being the central part of the story, and she aced the role. It was not an easy task to complete, and yet she made it in a phenomenal fashion.

Overall, a nice watch that did not feel long even though the run time almost hit the 2 hours mark. While the charm of it fizzles the moment you figure out the plot, it’s still a great movie with a good amount of twists and turns.

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How to quickly describe this drama? A fun soft makjang - technically there are a lot of makjang like plots, but they are not overdramatized in presentation. A well executed take on questionable and toxic decision making, when people are so hungry for power, respect, love, admiration, control (you name it).

Let’s start with the fact this is not really a “strong female leads being badass” type of a show. All free leads are emotionally broken in one way or another, selfish, egocentric and cunning. None was worth rooting for and that’s exactly what made the drama a fun watch - you could see them messing with each other's lives, laugh about it and not feel many conflicting emotions.

Character wise, both Go Mo Ran and Bae Ok Sun were fascinating. Completely misguided in their actions, created an avalanche of devastating situations that only made them both feel more frustrated, sad, angry. On the other hand, Woo Hyun was simply poorly written, and the performance by Kim Ha Neul did not help either. Lack of development, ambiguous morals, questionable motivation - this character more or less served nothing.

Production and directing wise, it was fine until it was not. Last two episodes are a pacing nightmare sprinkled with confusing editing. Sadly, the director and production team did not know how to deal with the cut of two episodes, making it impossible to deliver a proper closure that did not feel rushed and out of the blue.

Overall, not a bad watch.

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Started as a full on alien sci-fi, 10 minutes later turned into a modern investigation and then Indiana Jones like adventure. When the male lead got on top of an alien and started punching it in the face I figured out the type of a movie I am watching. A mess.

Here’s the thing - I truly believe this could be a decent movie about the parallel universes collapsing into each other and male lead trying to figure out how to stop it. Edit out all the alien monster flick scenes and tweak the plot slightly, and you get a good sci-fi mystery with nice aesthetics.

Instead we’ve got cheap halloween costume type of aliens running around, barely developed plot and ridiculous out of the blue romance.

Overall, I kind of got what I expected looking at the poster, and yet cannot stop myself from feeling disappointed, because I saw glimpses of potential as I was watching.

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Lacks proper set-up and introduction.

When is a tomb raiding story good? When it has a solid backstory and mystery set from the start that drives the curiosity of the viewers. When the characters are fun and interesting to watch and the teamwork and dynamics are entertaining. What does The Tomb of Ghost Mojin lack? All the above.

It’s another case of a movie that works on paper, but was not translated well on screen. The characters were painfully dry and boring, the story was fun, but only retrospectively when they explained it all by the end. It was nice looking, but also way too dark to truly appreciate it.

Overall, I honestly have little to say. I liked the ending? I guess that’s that.

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Exaggerated scenarios that had strangely wholesome vibes.

I think the best part of the show is the fact it’s not really dumb, even though it might seem like it is at first. The writers had a decent grasp on social media, start up and internet culture and took a proper jabs at the proper topics. At the same time, this is exactly the reason a lot of people would not find the show that interesting. You need to know the basics of the topics to understand the absurdity that is presented.

It does not go into great details into the topics, so don’t get too scared. I found a lot of the jokes and plots fun and entertaining even though I don't have a professional background in any related areas. Spending enough time in the right corners of the internet was enough.

The tone of the show slowly shifted from being just a workplace comedy to focusing more on the characters and their personal struggles, while keeping the fun and entertaining tones. It’s not one of the shows that start as a comedy to lean into melo later - it’s a crack of a show from start to finish, the topics just slightly shift.

Another selling point were the eccentric characters that still managed to be relatable. Jay was probably the most down to earth person - using him as a way to introduce the Maccom and its employees was a perfect choice - Jay and viewers were on the same boat, trying to stay afloat with a peculiar crew.

When I talk about the characters, I have to compliment the whole cast for their phenomenal performances. How they were able to make me believe a workplace like this one could actually exist is beyond me. They all had such a consistent performance, no matter how out of the box and ridiculous the characters’ and their actions were, I just accepted them as a norm.

The production value was great. Both intros were as absurd as the whole show and for that I am grateful - they stayed on brand. It is an office show though, so do not expect some beautiful screenshot worthy scenes.

What Unicorn lacked was the substance. As much as I enjoyed the episodes as I was watching them, there was not much inviting me to start the episodes in the first place. It’s a show you love as you watch, but forget it exists in between the episodes.

Overall, great watch if you are interested in the subject. Might be a bit boring and ridiculous if you have a high level of expertise or know nothing about it.

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If I was rating just the female lead, I would give it a 10. Smart, calm and collected, caring, just and driven. Can I even ask for more?

This would actually be a really good investigative thriller if it was not for the Sea Monster from the title. There was an interesting mystery, crime, murder, kidnapping, corruption and conspiracy… And there was also awful CGI and over the top monster make up.

Still, even with that ridiculous twist and awfully animated monster jumping around, it was truly an enjoyable watch. I am probably biased, because I loved the female lead so much, but the movie does focus on her alone, so it’s fair to add some points thanks to that character.

Both acting and production quality was nice. Even though Du Qing Ling was a calm character, it did not mean she was emotionless (which often is an issue, as some writers associate being calm with having no reaction to anything). Except for the CGI monkey monster, the movie was also aesthetically pleasing. The surrounding of the forest and the village were rather dim, but the film never truly felt dark.

Overall, short and interesting with great female lead.

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This is actually a well done and fun movie telling a few “urban legend” type of stories, linked by the main character - the hunter from the title. Everything kind of adds up by the end.

The mentor-mentee relationship between the two main characters was natural and fun to watch. While it was never the focus of the movie, it gradually and realistically built the trust and care the two had for each other.

The separate stories were interesting, but the background linking plot sadly was underdeveloped. Sure, by the end you get it all and the motivations of the villain are explained, but for me, not enough detail was put into crafting his backstory and presenting him as an interesting figure.

Production wise, it's honestly hard to describe. It masterfully mixed beautiful shots and sceneries with mediocre CGI - a rollercoaster of aesthetics. Acting was great. Not surprisingly, I liked Shang Tie Long's performance the best. I do have one complaint though, which I usually have with Chinese movies and shows. The generic white actor with awfully done dubbing - why? Why do we always have to have them?

Overall, surprisingly fun. I went into it thinking it would be a C class supernatural horror with all the aspects below average quality at best, but received a rather enjoyable 1 hour and 20+ minutes ride.

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Mostly boring and uneventful with few crack scenes that made me somehow finish it.

The plot is literally people “swimming” to the island after their boat flipped. Them talking and fearing a shark. That’s it. Sounds boring? It was.

Truly the best parts were the awful CGI and questionable editing and soundtrack. One song got me so confused I was sure my laptop broke, because it sounded as if some nasty ghost just kept stopping and playing the video. And then the english rap OVER dialogue. Who mutes dialogue to play the song and put the subs for said dialogue? And how they just clear cut the song and put on the dialogue sound halfway through the sentence… oof.

That said, putting aside the CGI, it was actually a decent looking movie - that’s it for the good parts. The characters were empty, both personality and brain wise.

Don’t watch it even if you have literally nothing else to watch.

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